Fire
by SecondAlternateLieutenant
Summary: Fire consumes, but sometimes a warm glow is all you need. But fire always grows. It's not ominous, it's fluff with a little smut. Two-shot.
1. Chapter 1

It was so warm, so soothing and so calming. For most people fire is the element of chaos, for consumption, devouring. It's the bringer of destruction, but also rebirth. It was such a fascinating element, and had always been one of her favorites to learn, even though it had come next to last in her training. It had been difficult to master because of her natural water-bending, but worth it. Totally worth it.

But sometimes, when the mood struck her, she liked to curl up under a big blanket and sit close to the fire, watching it burn while she sipped the best tea Republic City had to offer. She had to brew it herself when she was home, but Mako had shown her the best way to use her fire-bending to heat up the tea properly. Apparently it was some big fire-bender secret.

Whatever, the tea was the best, and made her feel so calm after she drank a cup, no light in the apartment but the fireplace. Just the flames dancing in her line of sight while the blanket kept the winter chill off of her. She was used to South Pole winters, but the ones in Republic City always seemed to chill her faster because the summers were so much hotter. At least that was her theory.

She was immediately aware when the door opened, but she didn't move. She kept her eyes trained on the fire while he kicked off his boots, grunted, picked them up and dropped them on the mat for them. Then another pair of boots fell onto the mat and Korra winced. Whoops, those were probably hers. She listened as he unzipped his jacket and the rustling as he hung it on the appropriate hook. His feet were soft on the floor only in socks and his footsteps approached, stopped, and his body settled onto the floor. Without thinking, she leaned back into his arms.

Neither of them spoke. It almost seemed criminal to break into the silence, to break into the peaceful atmosphere she'd created, but a look up at him brought a smile to her face. He looked tired, but he was smiling, eyes on the fire while he held her. Instead of breaking the quiet with words, Korra wordlessly poured him a cup of tea and held it in her hands for a few seconds until it started to steam before letting him take it. He kissed the bone on the side of her nose in thanks before sipping it. Mako released a sigh and relaxed against the couch with Korra in his arms, one hand holding the cup against her hip.

It seemed like a few hours that they'd been sitting on the floor, wrapped up in each other while the fire burned in front of them, crackling and warming their apartment. Korra released a contented sigh before looking up at him again with a smile. "Hi." Her voice was soft, quiet from disuse.

"Hi." Mako repeated and smiled back at her. "Thank you." He gestured to the tea in his hand.

"I was a little cold." Korra admitted and snuggled closer to him. "I'm warm now."

"Good." Mako placed soft kisses on her temple.

"How was work?"

"Hard." He didn't want to go into the details of the day he'd had with the police force. "Yours?"

"Similar." Sometimes being the Avatar was a royal pain in the ass. "Sometimes I wish I wasn't the Avatar." Korra always felt safe admitting things like this to Mako. He understood her, and the reflexive tightening of his arms was meant to comfort her. "But I'm grateful for the opportunity it's given me and I wouldn't want my life any other way."

"You don't have to justify that to me." Mako soothed her with a half smile. "Sometimes I wish you weren't the Avatar." He sighed. "But if you weren't, you wouldn't have come to Republic City."

Korra caught his meaning immediately. If she wasn't the Avatar she'd still be living in the South Pole, they'd never have met, and they'd likely be married to other people right now instead of each other. Marriage hadn't been high on her list of things when she and Mako started dating, but when they'd wanted to live together, her parents flat out refused to allow it unless they were married. So they were young and married, being very careful to prevent anything else from happening.

"I love you." Mako murmured softly after the long pause while she was thinking too much.

"I love you too." Korra smiled, putting the sad 'what ifs' from her mind as she faced him. "Did you want dinner? I got some food before I came home, it just needs to be heated up." She started to shift out of the blanket, but Mako stopped her.

"I can get it."

"No, I waited for you." Korra smiled. "I'd rather not eat alone."

"Oh." Mako grinned and helped her up. They gathered up their dinner and brought it back to the fireplace, pausing while Korra made more tea and Mako pulled off the rest of his uniform, walking back to the fireplace wearing only warm pants and a ragged old tank. He and Korra wrapped up under the blanket and ate together, exchanging soft words and smiles as they finished up their dinner and pushed the plates up on the couch away from where they were cuddling.

The advantage of sitting under the blanket with her meant his hands were free to roam the skin around her waist. She didn't have much on, her wrappings and a soft, long; nightshirt that seemed to be just an extra long shirt, so slipping his hands under it was easy. Korra lay in his lap, her head against his chest, her eyes closed, a content smile on her face. Mako wasn't ready to be content and sleep just yet, so he let his hands trace along her thighs, gently stroking up to her waist and stomach, pushing her shirt up as his hands moved up to her waist. Korra made a noise that she was enjoying it as her back arched reflexively.

Grinning, Mako laid her down on the floor, the blanket under her back and hovered over her. Their hands roamed each other while his mouth trailed her neck and collarbone. It was slow, but they were both on fire, burning with passion as feather-light touches shot bolts of what felt like electricity down her spine.

He brought his face up and smiled at her face. Korra had her hair loose except for the two front pigtails and the rest spilled in a black showed under her head. The fire cast enough light to show the outlines of her features with a little light sparkling off of her vivid blue eyes. He waited until her lips turned up in a smile and she copied it before kissing her, opening her mouth into a slow, languorous kiss that seemed to shock her into pausing. Mako pulled her nightgown off slowly and pulled the blanket over them to keep the chill of the room away. They were close to the fire, but it was still winter, and it was still cold.

They were moving instinctively, and he wedged himself between her legs as she spread them apart, his own clothing gone before she knew what was going on. But it was all slow, almost sleepy how they moved together, a warm ember of a fire between them instead of the raging fire that tended to consume them when they were together. The times like this, when they were moving together and connecting as husband and wife, it wasn't just sex. It really was the corny and cliché act of making love.

They didn't need words, the fact they loved one another was obvious from the way they were moving and touching, kissing and creating fire. They didn't need bending for this fire.


	2. Chapter 2

Fire, when fanned, always grows.

It was rare that she'd be this contemplative only a few weeks after her last episode. But curled up looking at the fire, things were different. She was still sitting on the floor with her back against the couch, wrapped up in a warm blanket, sipping hot tea while she watched the fire burn in front of her. But as similar as it was, it was astronomically different.

The door opened, then closed. He put his boots away, but hers were on the mat like they were supposed to be. He stripped off his coat and hung it on its hook with familiar rustles before padding over to her in his socks and settling next to her, opening his arms to let her rest against his chest. They were quiet as she handed him tea and he sipped.

"You're freezing." Korra frowned, breaking the silence to help pull the blankets around him, despite how he was still wearing his uniform pants and undershirt.

"It's snowing." Mako murmured and let her curl up almost in his lap, sharing her body heat with his nearly frozen form. "I'm feeling warmer now."

"Sometimes I wonder why you forget you're a fire-bender." Korra snorted at him and started to try and lift his body temperature.

"Using it for that doesn't occur to me." Mako kissed her cheek and helped her warm his body until they were both comfortable. "I wasn't raised in bending training."

"It's why you were so bad in the arena." Korra teased softly.

"You're funny." Mako rolled his eyes and sipped his tea, the hot liquid helping warm his body. Then again the beautiful woman in his arms helped significantly. "How was your day?"

"Quiet." It hadn't been, but she'd get to that. "How were the streets?"

"Fairly calm tonight, actually." Mako smiled easily. "Just a few speeders." He pressed his cheek to hers while they both watched the fire. "I like finding you here." He admitted, clearly thinking about the last time they'd been wrapped up in the blanket in front of the fire. That purely significant moment in their marriage.

"Mako." Korra made herself say his name. He murmured a noise in response, a sound so content she didn't want to say it. She couldn't say it. She had to. "I'm pregnant."

His body stiffened around her and he moved to look in her face. "You are?"

"Yes." Korra's voice was rough; unrest was growing in the pit of her stomach as he stared. "Is that ok?"

"Well yeah." Mako's face broke into a half smile. "Unexpected." He laughed nervously. "You're pregnant?"

"Yes." Korra nodded slowly. "I felt sick all week, so I went to see if Pema could help me, and she told me what it was." She curled closer to him while his body relaxed and held her close. "I found a healer who could tell me, and they were pretty sure."

"A baby." Mako murmured the word reverently. "We're having a baby." He was grinning uncontrollably now. "Korra, we're going to be parents."

"You're excited." The tension coiling in her stomach released and she smiled with him. "I'm excited." It almost felt like guilt now to be excited. They were young, in their mid-twenties, but they were married, and had been for a few years. He had a demanding job and she was the Avatar, a job that doesn't get much more demanding. She was going to have to take a lot of time off to be a mother, to have this baby.

"Hey." Mako held her closer. "We'll be ok." She'd gone stiff suddenly. "We can go see your parents in the South Pole, to tell them."

She hadn't even thought of her parents before. Her father would make his angry face and glare at Mako like he had when they'd admitted they had been planning on moving in together before getting married. That had caused an argument that had only been settled by her mother mediating and coming up with the compromise of marriage between the two young people. "I don't want to think about it yet." Korra buried her face in his chest. "Can we do something else?"

"Really?" Mako's brows lifted in surprise. "Now?"

"Now." Korra latched her mouth onto his and kissed him with an open mouth, distracting herself with his body for a while. They could think about the baby later. Think about all of the life changing events that would occur when the baby came and disrupted their lives completely. She pushed him down to the floor and pulled at his pants and shirt. She only had her faded blue nightgown on while she straddled his hips, helping him remove his shirt and uniform pants, letting him bother with his socks.

"Slow down." Mako frowned at her as she tried to speed up, but he turned her over and pinned her on the floor, holding her still.

"But…" Korra protested, but his mouth on hers started to move slowly, using his tongue to tangle with hers and slowly stroke her sides. "God, Mako." She breathed out when he let her breathe, his mouth moving to her neck. "I think that's how I got pregnant." She muttered at him.

Mako let out a throaty laugh while he kissed her collarbone and pushed her shirt up to move to her stomach. He spent more time on her abdomen than ever before, kissing and touching where their baby lay. Where their child was growing. It was fascinating to him, amazing and perfect that their baby was in her body, growing and would soon come and drive them up the wall. Mako grinned as he kissed over her belly button and then placed one on each of her hipbones. "I love you." He murmured softly, directed to his baby. "I love you." He kissed up Korra's body to her face, surprised to find tears on her face. "Korra…"

"I love you." She shook her head instead, wrapping her arms around his neck. Their mouths connected again and she gave into him wanting to move slowly. To be fair it didn't happen very often, and now felt like a good enough time to move slowly. Connect.

Mako kissed every inch of her he could reach, pushed off her nightgown to leave her bare underneath him. When he finally touched her between her legs she let her feelings take over and her back arch. She probably had no idea she was so arousing to him. Mako shook his head and planted kisses over her chest and breasts as he pushed into her. Every thrust brought them closer; her legs wrapped around his waist and held him close as possible. One of the cups of tea spilled onto the hearth, but neither seemed to care that the tea was wasted; they were too wrapped up in each other to care. "I love you." Mako told her through the muffled tangle of limbs they had become.

"I love you so much." Korra groaned and arched her back, pressing her stomach against his. The heat between them was hotter than the fire. But more importantly their baby lay between them.

Mako fell onto the floor and pulled her on top of him, giving her space to rearrange herself on his chest, using him as a very comfortable mattress. Not that he really minded having her body pressed completely against his, her heat radiating into his, and his back up to her. They were both on fire, and both burned with passion and excitement. They were warm, expecting, and growing. Their family was growing as brightly as the flames Mako urged to stay bright to warm himself, his wife, and his child.


End file.
